The Surprise
by InfiniteOTPS
Summary: Centuries after Avatar Korra passed away, a new Avatar, Taylor, appears. Taylor is just starting out with his earthbending training, working alongside his good friend, Cho-Hee. Cho-Hee is the quiet, stoic type, liking to read rather than train, so she decides to surprise Taylor with something that will help them do just that. OC x OC. From Tales of Yukio by Steph32297l.


**A/N: My friend wanted me to make a fanfiction of her fanfiction, so here it is! The real story can be found here: s/9670154/1/Tales-of-Yukio. Whether you look at it or not, I hope you enjoy! ^^**

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Taylor's P.O.V. -

Dawn hard barely started to streak through the sky as I was awoken by the sound of a Fire-Hawk at my window.

_Taylor- _

_Training is going to start early today, but it's important. Meet me in front of Fire Fountain City._

_- Cho-Hee_

It was bad enough that I was up at this hour, but why did she have to say 'Training?' It made me think that this was probably just some new scrap metal Cho-Hee had found that she wanted us both to use so we could enhance our earthbending skills. It might also be just a new reading spot, where we could read some scrolls in peace so no one would bother us. No matter how you looked at it, I felt like this was all something that could have been done at a less ungodly hour. I had learned long ago not to question the stoic Cho-Hee, though, so I quickly stumbled out of bed, scrounged up a reply to Cho-Hee's note, got ready, and headed out the door to Fire Fountain City. It was only after I'd taken the first step out the door when I realized something.

Fire Fountain City was a good 6 miles away!

It would be easy enough to drive there, but since I couldn't drive and didn't want to risk the wrath of waking someone who could take me, I decided to use the one skill I know I was good at: Waterbending. I froze the ground beneath my feet and sleepily skated down the path, tripping more than few times along the way (it turns out that fire nation sandals aren't exactly ice skates). I managed to stumble into Fire Fountain City about 20 minutes later, accidentally crashing into Cho-Hee as I made my final stride. She caught me by the arms and easily lifted me up like I was some sort of pet, setting me down beside her with a soft 'thump!' I matched her scrutinizing gaze with a nervous one of my own. "T-Thanks, Cho-Hee." I offered with a quick glance the other direction. "Think nothing of it." She responds in her usual monotone voice while attempting to brush any blemishes off her armor, making it clang as she stood up and adjusted her shoulders to an almost stick-straight posture, making my own look sloppy in comparison. I attempt to straighten my posture, only to get a glance from her in response, which either meant I was doing something that would embarrass her or was too noticeable for her not to peer my direction. I raise an eyebrow to her, hoping a sort of silent communication would work, considering I was finding it hard to come up with any logical way to ask 'Hey,how much of a dork do I look like this time?'

"You- do realize that you look more twisted than an Unagi's Tail, correct?" She asks cooly. Hiding the blush that was creeping onto my face, I look away from her and immediately attempt to readjust my posture. "Oh, do I? Sorry, I was, er, just trying to follow your lead, oh great Sifu." I chuckle, attempting to hide my embarrassment with humor.

And wouldn't you know it, I think she smiled at me.

"I am neither a Master nor your Sifu, Taylor. However, your ability to keep a lady waiting remain in tact, so congratulations." I gave a smile in response. Despite her monotone voice, I knew she was trying to make a joke, and felt the need to respond properly. "Well keeping a lady waiting is my specialty." I say with a smirk, to which she gives no indication as to whether or not she'd heard me say it until moments later. "Mhmm.. Oh, and Taylor?" I look over at her curiously, wondering why she'd chosen to speak up. She normally hated to talk unless something important was involved. "Yeah?" I respond with a tilt of my head.

"You might want to unfreeze the ice path behind you."

At this I turned around and realized that I had in fact forgotten to unfreeze the pathway I had made in order to get here. With a well placed breath and an elaborate hand-gesture, I was able to get the job done easily. Cho-Hee remained unimpressed, but that was just her being way too serious as usual, so I paid it no mind. However, I did notice that she was walking faster than usual; for a normal person thi would have indicated impatience or energy, but with Cho-Hee I knew it meant that she had truly found something great. She did not disappoint, for what she had found was a metal house, whose insides were littered with scroll after scroll of earthbending and metalbending techniques, some far beyond our skill level and some far beneath. I gasped as I walked inside and looked around. "Woah-,Cho-Hee… This is amazing! I-I can't believe you actually found something like this, I mean, what luck, right?" I turned back to look at Cho-Hee, only to find that she was still standing in the doorway, her face solemn but her eyes glinting with a mixture of wonder and... amusement? W-was she actually laughing at me in her own silent, soundless way? I believed she was, but why? Her next words only caused me more trouble.

"It is a rather impressive building, I will say. Must have taken some work. And that scroll on the wall- did you see it? I'm rather fond of it myself." I looked to see what she was talking about, thinking how she was losing her mind. I hadn't learned my first move from a scroll, I had simply been told to-

Oh.

Now I see why she was laughing at me.

The scroll had only two pictures, all sloppily-drawn with the simple caption "Move A Rock" underneath it. She had made her own scroll, and all of the other scrolls… they weren't new ones, but ones I had looked at myself, however briefly. Finally coming to a conclusion, I turn back towards Cho-Hee, my mouth agape. "You made this, didn't you? This entire place- why didn't you tell me sooner?" I asked, wondering why she had kept something like this a secret, to which she only frowned in response. "If you must ask, I just got finished with it. I wanted to show you before, but I thought that you would rather see the final product." she says, her pursed lips raising into a weak smile, obviously an unused gesture, as she seemed to be unsure of how to even make a smile. I nodded, unable to come up with the words to say, even though I seemed to be spewing random statements from my mouth. "It's amazing! I can't believe you did something like this.. It must have taken you forever! It looks like it was made be a-" My sentence was cut short as I realized I'd been rambling. "O-Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to talk so much. She shrugs, the smiling continuing. "It's fine. I didn't really mind, anyway. Thank you, though. I'm glad you like it. Now get out." I gasped. "What? Why?" She just sighed. "It is my private study after all, and while you're free to use it don't think I'm just going to let anyone in here while I'm studying." I laugh at her, then walk over to her and wrap my arms around her in a hug. "You know, it's alright to let someone in once in a while." The double-meaning obviously registered in her brain, for she kissed me in response. "I know." Too startled to do anything but kiss her back, I don't even notice as she shifted the ground beneath our feet, leaving me outside the door as she shuts it behind her.

"Just not right now."


End file.
